I should have found in some part of my soul 4 time of scorn &c.] The reading of both the eldest quartos and the folio is - for the time of scorn. Mr. Rowe reads-hand of scorn; and succeeding editors have silently followed him. I would (though in opposition to so many great authorities in favour of the change) continue to read with the old copy: the time of scorn. We call the hour in which we are to die, the hour of death-the time when we are to be judged-the day of judgment-the instant when we suffer calamity-the moment of evil; and why may we not distinguish the time which brings contempt along with it, by the title of the time of scorn? Thus, in King Richard III : "Had you such leisure in the time of death ?”Again, in King Henry VI, P. II: "To help king Edward in his time of storm." Again, in Soliman and Perseda, 1599: "So sings the mariner upon the shore, "When he hath past the dangerous time of storms." Again, in Marston's Insatiate Countess, 1603: "I'll poison thee; with murder curbe thy paths, Othello takes his idea from a clock. To make me (says he) a fixed figure (on the dial of the world) for the hour of scorn to point and make a full stop at! By slow unmoving finger our poet could have meant onlyso slow that its motion was imperceptible. Thus, in Antony and Clepatra the Messenger, describing the gait of the demure Octavia, says she creeps; "Her motion and her station are as one :" i. e. she moved so slowly, that she appeared as if she stood still. Steevens. In the clocks of the last age there was, I think, in the middle of the dial-plate a figure of time, which, I believe, was in our poet's thoughts, when he wrote the passage in the text. [See Vol. VIII, p. 30, n. 7.] The finger of the dial was the technical phrase. So, in Albovine King of the Lombards, by D'Avenant, 1629 : "Even as the slow finger of the dial "Doth in its motion circular remove "To distant figures, —” D'Avenant was a great reader of Shakspeare, and probably had read his plays, according to the fashion of the time, in the folio, without troubling himself to look into the quarto copies. Unmoving is the reading of the quarto, 1622. The folio reads and moving; and this certainly agrees with the image pre To point his slow unmoving finger at Yet could I bear that too; well, very well: sented and its counterpart, better than unmoving, which can be applied to a clock, only by licence of poetry, (not appearing to move) and as applied to scorn, has but little force: to say nothing of the superfluous epithet slow; for there needs no ghost to tell us, that that which is unmoving is slow. Slow implies some sort of motion, however little it may be, and therefore appears to me to favour the reading of the folio. I have given the arguments on both sides, and, from respect to the opinions of others, have printed unmoving, though I am very doubtful whether it was the word intended by Shakspeare. The quarto, 1622, has-fingers, the folio-finger. Malone. Perhaps we should read-slowly moving finger at. I should wish to reject the present reading, for even the word slow implies some degree of motion, though that motion may not be perceptible to the eye. The time of scorn is a strange expression, to which I cannot reconcile myself; I have no doubt but it is erroneous, and wish we had authority to read-hand of scorn, instead of time. M. Mason. If a certain culprit, in one of his soliloquies (after the execu tion of a late sentence in the corn market) had been heard to exclaim: he would, at once, have been understood, by the TIME of scorns to mean the HOUR of his exposure in the pillory; and by its slow unmoving FINGER, the HOUR-INDEX of the dial that fronted him. Mr. Malone, in a subsequent note, hath remarked that "his for its is common in our author;" and in respect to the epithet unmoving, it may be observed, with Rosalind, not only that time travels in divers places with divers persons, but, that for the same reason, it GALLOPS with the thief to the gallows, it apparently STANDS STILL with the perjured in the pillory. Whatever were the precise instance of disgrace to which Othello alluded, the text in its present state, is perfectly intelligible; and, therefore, should be preserved from capricious alterations. Henley. 5 - garner'd up my heart;] That is, treasured up; the gar ner and the fountain are improperly conjoined. Johnson. 6 Where either I must live, or bear no life;] So, in K. Lear: "Whereby we do exist, or cease to be." Steevens. Or keep it as a cistern, for foul toads? To knot and gender in!-turn thy complexion there! Des. I hope, my noble lord esteems me honest. Des. Alas, what ignorant sin have I committed? Oth. Was this fair paper, this most goodly book, Made to write whore upon? What committed! 7 a cistern, for foul toads &c.] So, in Antony and Cleopatra: 8 "So half my Egypt were submerg'd, and made Steevens. turn thy complexion there! &c.] At such an object do thou, patience, thyself change colour; at this do thou, even thou, rosy cherub as thou art, look as grim as hell. The old editions and the new have it: "I here look grim as hell." I was written for ay, and not since corrected. Johnson. Here in the old copies was manifestly an error of the press. See the line next but one above. Mr. Theobald made the correction. Malone. 9 O thou weed,] Dr. Johnson has, on this occasion, been unjustly censured for having stifled difficulties where he could not remove them. I would therefore observe, that Othello's speech is printed word for word from the folio edition, though the quarto reads: "O thou black weed!" Had this epithet, black, been admitted, there would still have remained an incomplete verse in the speech: no additional beauty would have been introduced; but instead of it, a paltry antithesis between the words black and fair. Steevens. The quarto, 1622, reads: "O thou black weed, why art so lovely fair? "Thou smell'st so sweet, that the sense aches at thee," &c. Malone. Was this fair paper, &c.] Massinger has imitated this passage in The Emperor of the East: 66 can you think "This master piece of heaven, this precious vellum "Could be design'd to have perjury and whoredom "In capital letters writ upon 't?" Steevens. Committed!-O thou publick commoner! Des. By heaven, you do me wrong. Oth. Are not you a strumpet? No, as I am a christian: If to preserve this vessel for my lord,1 Oth. Is it possible? No, as I shall be saved. 2 Committed!] This, and the three following lines, are omitted in the first quarto. For the peculiar sense in which the word-committed, is here used, see King Lear, Act III, sc. iv, Vol. XIV. See also, Decker's Bell-man's Night Walkes, &c: "But what doe they? marrie, they doe that which the Constable should have done for them both in the streets; that is to say, commit, commit!" Steevens. This word in Shakspeare's time, beside its general signification, seems to have been applied particularly to unlawful acts of love. Hence perhaps it is so often repeated by Othello. So, in Sir Thomas Overbury's CHARACTERS, (A Very Woman), 1614: "She commits with her ears for certain; after that, she may go for a maid, but she has been lain with in her understanding." The word is used in the same sense in King Lear : Commit not with man's sworn spouse." Again, în Decker's Honest Whore, P. I: 66 if all committers stood in a rank, "They'd make a lane, in which your shame might dwell." Malone. 3 The bawdy wind, that kisses all it meets,] So, in The Merchant of Venice: 66 Hugg'd and embraced by the strumpet wind." Malone. 4 If to preserve this vessel for my lord,] This expression, as well as many others, our author has borrowed from the sacred writings: to possess his vessel in sanctification,”—1 Thess. 66 iv, 4. Malone. 5 hatred. any other] Thus the folio. The quarto reads-any Steevens. Des. O, heaven forgive us! Oth. I cry you mercy, then; That have the office opposite to Saint Peter, I pray you, turn the key, and keep our counsel. [Exit. Emil. Good madam, what 's the matter with my lord? Emil. Why, with my lord, madam. Des. Who is thy lord? He that is yours, sweet lady. Des. I have none: Do not talk to me, Emilia ; I cannot weep; nor answer have I none, But what should go by water." Pr'ythee, to-night Emil. Here is a change, indeed! [Exit. Des. 'Tis meet I should be us'd so, very meet. How have I been behaved, that he might stick The smallest opinion on my great'st abuse? 6 Who is thy lord?] This, and the following speech, are omitted in the first quarto. Steevens. But what should go by water.] Camden has preserved an Epitaph on Queen Elizabeth, which concludes with a similar conceit: "I think the barge-men might with easier thighs "For how-so-ere, thus much my thoughts have scann'd, "Sh' ad come by water, had she come by land." Steevens. These lines are to be found in Decker's Wonderful Yeare, 1603, and probably were written by him. They are not as an epitaph. Reed. 8 on my great'st abuse ?] This is the reading of the quarto, 1622, which Dr Johnson thought preferable to the reading of the folio-on my least misuse. Malone, |